Two Oklahoma police officers facing felony charges for fatally shooting an unarmed Black man outside a home in 2021 whose previous efforts to get their cases dismissed have failed are now trying a new legal tack: They’re hoping a criminal appeals court will rule in their favor based on a new state law relating to justifiable homicide by an officer that went into effect on Nov. 1.
There’s no disputing that Lawton Police Officers Nathan Michael Ronan and Robert Leslie Hinkle, both 33, fired a hail of 15 bullets at Quadry Malik Sanders on Dec. 5, 2021, causing his death.
The incident was captured on Hinkle’s police body camera video, which showed the two officers arriving at a home where a 911 caller had reported that Sanders, 29, who had entered the home in violation of a protective order, was waving a gun around inside and refusing to let a woman leave.
After dispatchers communicated with Sanders via loudspeaker, the woman exited the home, and within a few minutes, Sanders walked out the front door into the carport, holding a ball cap. As the officer barked orders to put his hands up, Sanders appeared to try to take cover behind a refrigerator. As he began to raise his hands, one of the officers shot at him four times.
Sanders dropped to the ground as an officer continued yelling, “Hands! Hands! Hands!”
The wounded man complied, and as he sat up and lifted his hands above his head, the video shows that he was repeatedly shot again. The officers shouted at Sanders to “stay down” and “roll over on your stomach,” as Sanders, apparently writhing in agony, said, “I’m down!” and “I can’t breathe!”
Hinkle then grabbed Sanders by his feet and dragged him across the concrete, leaving a trail of blood. He was placed face down, handcuffed behind his back. Police waited two minutes before attempting to address his wounds. A large pool of blood was visible underneath Sanders in the video.
Sanders died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. An autopsy later showed he was shot 12 times, in the abdomen, groin area, legs, arm and hand. A police investigation revealed that Hinkle fired 15 shots and Ronan fired four. Eleven wounds came from Hinkle’s gun and one was unidentifiable, the Lawton Constitution reported.
Following an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Comanche County District Attorney Kyle Cabelka charged Hinkle and Roman in Sanders’ death, saying in a statement that the shooting of Sanders “was not justified,” and noting that no weapon was found on or near Sanders.
Hinkle was charged with first-degree manslaughter, and Ronan was charged with shooting with intent to kill. After an internal investigation, both officers were fired by the Lawton Police Department in January 2022 for violating the department’s use-of-force policy.
In July 2022, two months after Hinkle and Ronan were criminally charged, Mina Woods, the mother of Sanders, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his estate, seeking at least $1 million.
The civil lawsuit complaint obtained by Atlanta Black Star said Sanders was not armed and “put hands up in a manner universally understood by police officers to be a sign of compliance,” but was still shot by the officers, who “were not threatened or in imminent risk of serious bodily injury” when they shot him.
The use of lethal force was unreasonable, the complaint argued, and caused Sanders to suffer severe pain and agony as he died. The complaint also faulted Hinkle and Ronan for failing to render medical aid to Sanders as he bled out in the carport, while yelling at the handcuffed man to “quit moving” and “quit reaching.”
The lawsuit, which also alleged that the city of Lawton was liable for the conduct of Hinkle and Ronan, was stayed several times by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti in order to allow the criminal trial to proceed first. He issued an order to end the lawsuit without prejudice in November 2023, meaning it can be reopened by either party.
Meanwhile, in the fall of 2022, a pair of mediators began reviewing the case against Hinkle and Ronan, per the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the police union, the Southwest Ledger reported. In June of 2023, the arbitrators ruled that the two officers had been wrongfully fired and should be reinstated and given back pay.
City Manager John Ratliffe said he was disappointed with the decision. The city council voted unanimously to appeal the arbitration decision and the monetary award for both officers.
Woods and other members of Sanders’ family hosted a press conference at Lawton City Hall, voicing their outrage over the order to reinstate Hinkle and Ronan and condemning the “criminal actions of the men who murdered Quadry Sanders in cold blood.”
In early 2024, a judge ruled to vacate the officers’ arbitration awards, reported KSWO. Along with the International Union of Police Associations, they appealed that decision. In July 2024, the appellate court signed off on the motion, and the case is now before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
In an evidentiary hearing in spring 2024, defense attorney Gary James argued before Comanche County District Judge Emmit Tayloe that the officers had acted under the “stand your ground” law and that their use of lethal force was justified. Tayloe denied their motion to dismiss, and James appealed his decision to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which also denied it in July 2024.
Now James is back in court arguing that the officers were justified in using deadly force against Sanders per a new Oklahoma law amending the state’s justifiable homicide statute, which gives officers who use deadly force while on duty enhanced protection and fast-track appeal rights.
The defendants claimed in a motion filed on Nov. 3 in state court that due to the threat of danger to human life and because they were acting in the performance of their legal duty to protect themselves and others from serious bodily harm, their actions were reasonable, the Lawton Constitution reported. Judge Tayloe ruled that the officers’ actions were unjustified and dismissed the motion.
On Nov. 11 James filed a notice of intent to appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which effectively pauses the criminal trial.
Last week, prominent civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who helped Woods’ attorneys to investigate the civil case, posted on Facebook that when he was killed, Sanders “was unarmed, his hands were raised in surrender, and he was nonetheless shot multiple times. … This conduct constitutes a grave violation of Mr. Sanders’ constitutional rights and is properly the subject of both criminal accountability and civil redress.”
Great Job Jill Jordan Sieder & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
